Apparatus for facial massage



Nov. 19, 1935. A. P. SEEDQRFF APPARATUS FOR FACIAL MASSAGE Filed Oct. 26, 1952 Ilillliil|l|llllllll|illlllllllllllll INVENTOR MA BY 2/- ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

My invention relates to portable apparatus for facial massage and particularly to such an apparatus adapted for use in connection with a chilled massage.

The advantages of .a chilled massage in connection particularly with facial massages have heretofore been recognized, and such massages have generally been given by the use of ice or a similar refrigerant. This method is not satisfac- 1 tory, however, in that the apparatus employed depends for its cooling effect solely upon the use of ice or similar refrigerant, which, in the small quantities which may be conveniently employed, melt very rapidly.

It is, therefore, an object of my present invention to provide a portable massage apparatus particularly adapted for use in connection with chilled massages in which one massage bulb is cooled by evaporation of a refrigerant contained within the massage apparatus and which is so constructed that the apparatus may be used for an entire facial massage without a substantial increase in the temperature of the chilled massage bulb.

Furthermore, it is an object of my invention to provide a portable massage apparatus having two massage bulbs of which one bulb may be maintained at a considerably lower temperature than room temperature and of which the other may be maintained at a temperature equal to or higher than room temperature, such high and low temperatures being useful particularly in connection with facial or other massages.

These and various other objects, features of arrangement, construction and operation are plainly shown and described, and will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing showing a preferred embodiment of my invention, in which:

The drawing accompanying this application shows a sectional view in side elevation of a device embodying my invention.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, 2 designates a handle formed of wood or other suitable material through which a hollow tube 3 extends. One end of the handle 2 is secured in a member 4 attached to a reservoir 5. The tube 3 extends through the member 4 and into the reservoir 5 as shown.

A charging tube 6, which is pinched shut after charging of apparatus, extends from the reservoir 5 through the member 4 and into a member 1 inside the handle 2. As shown, the reservoir 5 is constructed with a plurality of baffles l4, each having a plurality of holes 9 extending therethrough. A plurality of screens Ill are provided, one each of the screens being superimposed on top of each of the bailles M. A passage I I, formed of a tubular screen or similar material, extends through openings in the central portion of the 5 baffles. A quantity of mineral wool I2 is placed within the tubular screen and extends beyond the end of the tubular screen to the points adjacent the ends: of the tubes 3 and ii.

In the reservoir 5 is placed a quantity of an- 10 hydrous calcium chloride or some other material having absorptive or adsorptive qualities and be ing capable of entering into chemical or physical combinations with ammonia or some other suit- .able refrigerant. This material, when saturated with a refrigerant, completely fills the reservoir and the spaces between the baffles l4 and all spaces not occupied by the baffles I4, the screens 9, the tubular member H, and the mineral wool l2.

In the case of calcium chloride being used as an absorbent and ammonia used as refrigerant, the well known groups of calcium-chloride-ammonia, namely CaClaZNl-Is, CaChANHs, and CaC12.8NH3, are formed successively when the ammonia is admitted during the absorption period.

The outer casing 8 of the reservoir 5 is formed of some heat conducting material such as copper or the like, so that heat may be transmitted through it to the calcium chloride crystals l3 saturated with ammonia. The end of the tube 3 opposite the reservoir 5 communicates with a bulb 15, having a hollow interior filled with a quantity of mineral wool IS, the bulb I5 being formed of a heat conducting material such as copper or the like.

A heat receptacle ll, of any desired type, may be used for the purpose of heating the contents of the reservoir 5. The form shown in my drawing is a conventional type of electrical heating apparatus having an electrical conduit l8, electrically connected with a resistance coil is, held in place on a porcelain element 20, the bottom of the heating element being filled with a. refractory material 2|. This, however, is not essential to my invention, inasmuch as the reservoir 5 may be heated in any conventional manner. An ordinary water tumbler 22, filled with water 23, while not forming a part of my invention, is here shown to 5 aid in the description of the operation of a device embodying my invention.

The operation of a device embodying my invention is as follows: When the reservoir 5 is heated, part of the ammonia is driven off the calcium 5 chloride ammonia crystals and these crystals are reduced to calcium chloride ammonia crystals of a lower ammonia content. The vapor passes through the mineral wool I2 and through the tube 3 to the bulb I5, and there the vapor condenses and is absorbed by capillary .action of the mineral wool I6 contained therein. In order to facilitate the condensation of the vapors in the bulb I5, it may be placed in water 23 of a lower temperature than the temperatures to which the reservoir 5 is being subjected.

When the reservoir 5 is no longer heated, the non-saturated calcium chloride then absorbs the vapors of the ammonia. This reduces the pressure in the reservoir 5 and in the tube 3, and when the pressure is further reduced by the continued absorptive action, the liquid ammonia in the bulb I5 evaporates rapidly, and in so evaporating removes heat from the bulb I5. This chills the bulb I5 and makes it adaptable for a facial or other massage. The absorption of the ammonia vapor by the absorptive medium contained in reservoir 5, produces heat and acts to maintain the bulbous reservoir 5 at a temperature higher than room temperature.

By the use of the mineral wool I6 in the bulb I5, the liquid ammonia is prevented from running back into the tube during the manipulation of the apparatus for various massages.

While I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction as herein set forth but desire toavail myself of all changes within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

I claim:

1. A massage apparatus comprising intercommunicating bulbous massage members, and a temperature regulating system therefor comprising a fluid medium normally maintained in a chemically combined form in one of said bulbous the fluid medium is reconverted to its gaseous phase and thereafter is chemically recombined with the chemicafly active agent in the said heated bulbous member, with a generation therein of heat less than the heat of dissociation.

2. A portable massage apparatus including two intercommunicating hollow bulbous massage members, the first of said bulbous members intermittently containing a liquid refrigerant and the second of said bulbous members containing a material adapted to combine chemically with the vapors issuing from the refrigerant in the first bulb with the production of heat therein. 6

3. A massage apparatus adapted for alternate cold and hot massages and comprising a cooled massage bulb and a heated massage bulb having an intercommunicating conduit secured at its terminal end portions to the said bulbs, a fluid 10 substance maintained alternately in its liquid phase and in its gaseous phase and operable to effect a cooling of the cooled bulb during its change from the liquid to the gaseous phase, and a combining medium therefor maintained in said heated massage bulb and adapted to combine chemically with said fluid substance while in its gaseous phase with the generation of heat therein.

4. A massage apparatus comprising a massage bulb adapted to be cooled, a reservoir, a conduit communicating with the interior of said bulb and said reservoir and secured thereto, a refrigerant absorbent contained within said reservoir and a refrigerating substance normally combined therewith, said refrigerating substance being adapted to be volatilized and separated from said absorbent upon heating of said reservoir with a creation of pressure within said reservoir, whereby the volatilized refrigerant is conveyed as a gas through said conduit to said massage bulb and condensed therein to its liquid phase, the said refrigerating substance thereafter passing into the gaseous phase after decrease of pressure withinsaid apparatus and thereafter recombined with the refrigerant absorbent in the reservoir with the production of decreased temperatures in the massage bulb and the production of heat less than the heat of dissociation in said reservoir.

5. A massage apparatus comprising a massage a bulb adapted to be cooled and a massage bulb adapted to be heated, an intercommunicating conduit having its terminal end portions secured to said bulbs, a temperature regulating medium contained within said apparatus and comprising calcium chloride norm-ally saturated withammonia contained within the said massage bulb adapted to be heated, the said ammonia being driven from the calcium chloride as a gas upon heating of said bulb and thereafter condensed as a liquid in the said massage bulb adapted to be cooled, the said ammonia thereafter upon the removal of heat from said massage bulb adapted to be heated being volatilized as a gas and there- 5 .after combined with the calcium chloride in the said bulb adapted to be heated, with the resultant production of a decreased temperature in the massage bulb adapted to be cooled and the production of heat less than the heat of dissociation in the bulb adapted to be heated.

ALEXANDER PALUDAN SEEDORFF. 

